Photo credit: Getty Images
By Shawn McCullough
LAS VEGAS–The Washington Huskies sent their head coach out on a good note.
Washington (8-5) beat up the Mountain West champion Boise State Mustangs 38-7 in the Las Vegas Bowl at Sam Boyd Stadium.
Huskies head coach Chris Petersen surprisingly announced his retirement from Washington on December 2nd, but agreed to coach the Huskies for his final game in the Las Vegas Bowl.
“It’s never about one person,” said Petersen about his last game. “It’s about the team playing really, really well.”
Petersen formerly was the head coach at Boise State and went 92-12 from 2006 to 2013. He led the Broncos to two undefeated season in 2006 and 2009.
“For us to finish on this note, I just feel really good for the guys that are leaving this program and the guys that are coming back,” said Petersen.
Redshirt junior quarterback Jacob Eason led the Huskies throwing for 210 yards and one touchdown.
“It was awesome just the way this whole team played,” said Eason. “I play well and this team plays well. Overall we just played well and efficient and got the result that we wanted.”
The Huskies started the scoring in the first quarter with Eason hitting Andre Baccellia on a slant for a 17 yard touchdown to take a 7-0 lead.
Washington later scored in the second quarter on a pitch sweep to running back Salvon Ahmed, who beat the outside contain and sprinted into the right corner of the end zone to go up 14-0. The Huskies added a field goal late in the second to go into halftime up 17-0.
“Our guys played hard and they were ready to go out there and play, but as coaches, we didn’t do a good enough job to make the adjustments that we needed to do,” said Boise State head coach Bryan Harsin. “I am proud of our guys”.
Boise State freshman quarterback Hank Bachmeier struggled in the first half throwing for just 87 yards and two interceptions sparking a quarterback change to redshirt senior Jaylon Henderson.
Henderson led an eleven play, 77 yard drive in the third quarter for the Mustang’s only points of the game on a 10 yard touchdown pass to running back George Holani.
The Mustang loss dropped Boise State to 12-2 on the season, snapping a six game winning streak.
Game Notes:
- Washington defensive back Elijah Molden was named the game’s MVP with nine tackles and one interception
- This was the 28th straight and final Las Vegas Bowl played at Sam Boyd Stadium
- Sam Boyd Stadium seats 36,800
- The Las Vegas Bowl will move to the currently under construction Allegiant Stadium in 2020, home of the Oakland Raiders and the UNLV Running Rebels
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